pet connection

By Kim Campbell Thornton

It’s been a busy week and a half for the Thornton girls. Last Tuesday, Harper and I went to Fashion Island in Newport Beach–Mecca for dogs in the OC. At all the best stores there, from Anthropologie to Bloomingdale’s, no one bats an eye when you walk in with a dog. We were there for our friend Arden’s book signing, held at Muttropolis, a chic pet boutique. But first, we had cocktails and appetizers at Francoli Gourmet, an Italian food store/restaurant with dog-friendly outdoor seating. Well, I did, anyway; Harper just sat there looking hopeful and accepting the attentions of all the people who wanted to pet her.

Then we headed over to Muttropolis to make sure Arden had a good turnout–there’s nothing worse than having only two people show up at your signing because it wasn’t publicized. Harper got some good treats and lots more attention, including from Muttropolis marketing and PR manager Dana Humphrey, who invited me to bring her to their Halloween photo shoot the next day. I’m not generally one to dress up my dogs, but I thought it would be a good experience for Harper–as well as good practice for sitting still, which she needs to work on.

I felt bad leaving Bella and Twyla home for two days in a row, so after giving Harper a bath I loaded all three of them into the car and drove south to Solana Beach. Harper was a trooper, posing sort of patiently as Peter Pan, Snow White (meh) and Jack Sparrow. She even wore the headgear for each costume–briefly. We kept having to replace it at 30-second intervals. B&T were satisfied to supervise. Twyla was having so much fun, she even rolled over so the photographer could give her a belly rub, which is quite the show of trust for her. They all went home with a goody bag of collars, treats and toys.

A few days later, we drove them down to our pet sitter so we could celebrate our anniversary in LA. They love visiting Terry, who has a yard they can dig in and Icelandic ponies to bark at. Even without them along, our evening and the next day turned out to be dogcentric. There was a late-night barking dog at our hotel, and we saw lots of dogs the next day at the beach in Santa Monica, including the one pictured here, who was sharing breakfast (and kisses) with his owner. And those of you with an unlimited dog budget may want to look into one of these cute eco-doghouses. If your budget is more like mine, you may want to try your hand at building one of your own.

Today, Harper ran errands with me and we made a quick visit to Dog World magazine so I could drop off some paperwork. We visited with editor Allan Reznik, who’s a Cavalier man from way back, and he thought Harper might make a nice show dog. The real question is whether I will make a nice handler. I had planned to ask him about the Border Collie incident that Christie wrote about, but his phone was ringing so we went on our way.

Saturday, Harper takes the Canine Good Citizen test. I’m pretty sure she’ll pass, but if not, at least we’ll know what we need to work on. From there Bella’s going to the cardiologist for another checkup. She’s mighty spry for twelve and a half, but she’s at a point where I’m starting to worry a little about her. She tires more obviously and sometimes her respiratory rate makes me nervous, but then she snaps out of it.

Next weekend, the real road trip begins: we’re all off to Seattle for several weeks. Rain, rain, go away…